The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life

Those who drink Wine, &c., for the purpose it was given, as a Cordial, to cheer the Circulation, when it falters from Fatigue, Age, or profuse Evacuations of any kind, "for the Stomach's sake," as St. Paul recommends it, and for our "often infirmities" as a Medicine-will understand, that of all the ways of saving, to run any risk of buying bad Wine, is the most ridiculously unwise Economy.
-from "Wine"

Self-help instructional manuals are hardly a 20th-century invention: witness this 1824 work, which was quite a success in its day. Fully and charmingly titled The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, by Food, Clothes, Air, Exercise, Wine, Sleep, &c., and Peptic Precepts, Pointing Out Agreeable and Effectual Methods to Prevent and Relieve Indigestion, and to Regulate and Strengthen the Action of the Stomach and Bowels, it is but one of the masterworks of the domestic advisor and celebrity cook William Kitchiner, who was the Martha Stewart and the Oprah Winfrey of his day.

Laden with all manner of advice for everyone from delicate females to corpulent gentlemen in the matters of what to eat, how to sleep, what to wear, and more, this is a delightful look at what a healthy lifestyle looked like to the early 19th century.

OF INTEREST TO: students of the history of self-help, collectors of pop culture ephemera


British author and bon vivant WILLIAM KITCHINER (1775-1827) was a doctor, inventor, musician, and early-19th-century household name. His 1829 book The Cook's Oracle was a bestseller in England and America.